Russian infantry training with flamethrower sappers.

It is not clear if the flamethrower is a static or portable model. In the center of the photo, sappers in heavy fireproof suits can be seen.

They appear to be waiting to take turns at the flamethrower; one is seen running to the right.

The flameproof overalls were copies of the British Suit, Anti-liquid Fire, Pattern 3023/1918.

Photos of Russian flamethrower sappers in action are virtually nonexistent.

"may the smell of burning oil & defeat live on forever in our hearts"

Betty the Barina was a car, she was a car in the same way that a Turd Sandwich is still a sandwich.

Betty I will miss your faulty CV joints, your nonexistent brake pads, the one working indicator, the window winder that snapped off in my hand one evening, the windscreen wipers that only had 2 settings; fast and super fast and had to be turned off by timing it just right that you flicked the switch when they got to the bottom. I will miss the smell of burning oil and melting clutch, the big coolant stain on the passenger side floor (my bad), the non-existent air-conditioning, the shitty shitty shitty radio & its coat hanger aerial. Most of all, I'll miss the massive oil stain you were creating on our garage floor.

Betty the Barina, may you continue to piss people off in car heaven!

PS - Betty was still going strong when we traded her in and bought a new car today!

Manufacturer: Yamato Motor Corporation

Nationality: Japan

First assembled: December 8th, 2044

Birthplace: Tochigi, Japan

Engine: 2.4 L Turbocharged Three-Rotor/ Dual AC Synchronous E-Motors

HP: 820

0-60: 2.4 seconds

Top speed: 225.00 MPH

Despite accounting for such a large piece of the global automotive industry, genuine supercars out of Japan are a rarity. Not nonexistent by any means, but for a part of the world that is so instrumental to car culture across the globe you'd expect more. Of course alot of the greatest sportscars ever created hail from the Land of the Rising Sun, but very few fit the traditional definition of a supercar despite some reaching supercar-levels of performance. For the few bona-fide Japanese supercars out there however, they're considered some of the greatest cars to not only come out of the eastern hemisphere, but some of the greatest the world has ever seen. Yamato Motor Corporation, probably the biggest name in the Japanese automotive industry, predictably gave the world one of these few Japanese supercars. What they gave is one of the most revered driver's cars ever conceived and something that influenced their performance and motorsports programs decades after it first appeared.

The story of Yamato's supercar begins in the mid-1980s within the depths of Yamato's R&D division. Engineers were experimenting with different engine and chassis layouts to test their viability for future products, and one project was a hacked-up economy car with its engine placed behind the driver and powering the rear wheels. Data from this project would go on to influence some rallycar projects, but engineers had so much fun working with this frankenstein platform that higher-ups in the company were convinced to develop a pure sportscar. A couple concept cars and some consultation from race car drivers working under Yamato at the time, and the XSP (eXperimental Sportscar Prototype) project began in earnest. With a robust and highly-decorated motorsports team alongside some of the greatest engineers in the business backed by one of the largest R&D departments in the industry, Yamato had about the best development resources available to them and used them liberally. The fruits of their labors would hit the public eye in the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show, creating quite the splash with the automotive press. The Yamato Raijin had made its grand debut, and it stole the show wherever it went. Yamato went with the name "Raijin" after the Shinto god of lightning, not just to hint at the car's lightning-quick performance, but to compliment the "lower-tier" Fujin sportscar Yamato was producing at the time. In Shinto faith, Raijin and Fujin are depicted as brothers, so it only made sense for Yamato to reflect this with their two dedicated performance cars. And what a performer the Raijin was. Yamato outright targeted Italian supercar maker Scaletti when developing the Raijin, intending to provide on-par or greater performance figures while offering something more usable, reliable, and affordable. When the Raijin reached production a year later in 1990, reception was near-universal where it was more or less agreed that it crushed the goals Yamato was aiming for. Special mention was given to the Raijin's frame, which was meticulously fine-tuned to be as lightweight as possible while providing laser-precise handling. The punchy, high-revving flat-6 engine was also unlike anything else on the road with plenty of innovative firsts at the time such as titanium connecting rods and forged pistons. Despite this motorsports-born performance credentials, the Raijin was also a practical and reliable daily driver, notably with a fighter jet-inspired canopy that offered great visibility for a supercar in that era. As it was developed by Yamato's motorsports division, predictably it would end up going racing where it would gain even more race victories for the company. Overall the Raijin would turn out to be a fantastic success for Yamato that would greatly influence their future performance cars and even other marques across the globe. While the first-gen Raijin would cease production in the early-2000s, the nameplate's popularity would never really fall, and Yamato certainly wasn't foolish enough to forget it.

The Raijin would return in the late 2010s as a more tech-focused hybrid-powered supercar, offering a glimpse of 7-figure technology for a 6-figure price. It was a great car by all regards, but with the bar the original Raijin set there was no way this new generation was going to have the same universal acclaim. After a few years the second-gen Raijin would cease production, and it would be decades before Yamato would try their hand at a supercar again. Their motorsports and R&D division wouldn't slow down, however, and would expand their knowledge and resources all the way up until the 2040s. International automotive press would be set off when something was spotted at Twin Ring Montegi in Togichi, Yamato's test track of choice for their racing projects. An obviously mid-engined supercar in heavy prototype camo was frequently spotted doing test laps around the circuit. The spotters noted a distinctly high-pitched engine note that was unlike the boxer-style engines Yamato commonly used for their high-performance models. They also noted that sometimes while it was driving, it made no sound at all outside of tire noise. The prototype camo was very effective at hiding the car's design, but even then many enthusiasts noted from the spy shots that it seemed to carry some design cues from older Raijin generations. This in turn would spark common speculation that this strange new car was Yamato resurrecting the legendary nameplate for a 3rd time. Speculation was all anybody had until the 2044 Tokyo Motor Show came up. To nobody's surprise but to everyone's excitement, the speculation was true. Flanked on both sides of the stage by prior Raijin generations, Yamato revealed the 3rd-generation Raijin supercar to the world. While this new generation visually respected its past, it was clearly looking towards the future. Yamato stated that while the Raijin name was a historically-significant one to not just themselves but the Japanese auto industry as a whole, this latest-and-greatest Raijin was the result of them throwing all their most advanced research and technology into one platform, taking it from a supercar to nearly reaching into hypercar territory.

The amount of advanced tech that went into developing the latest Raijin is outright daunting to get into, so its best to cover the highlights. The greatest is the new powertrain by far. Like the previous generation the new Raijin is a hybrid, utilizing internal combustion and electrification together. The electric component is a pair of motors powering both the front and rear wheels, making the Raijin AWD. The Raijin is of course capable of electric-only mode, that thanks to a high-capacity solid-state battery pack located directly behind the cabin, gives it a range of 400 miles per charge. What makes the powertrain of the new Raijin so noteworthy is the internal combustion component. Previous generations used some iteration of Yamato's long-running flat-6 platform. The latest Raijin has broken this norm by dumping pistons entirely in place of utilizing a new rotary engine, specifically a 2.4 liter 3-rotor inspired by some of Yamato's historic LM Prototypes. Yamato went with a rotary engine for a few reasons. The compact size and light weight was optimal for the packaging of the Raijin while also helping mitigate the weight gain of the hybrid platform. Rotaries are also high-revving and produce the most power per displacement, which doesn't need much explaining why that's good to have in a supercar. To give it even more power Yamato grafted a single turbo to this new powertrain, which they even prominently display in the back, exposed just behind the rear wing with the car's muffler attached to its other end. The most unique thing about the Raijin's rotary engine has to be its construction. Each one of these engines is assembled by hand by master craftsmen called a "Takumi". The assembly doesn't take place in a typical manufacturing line, but in a special "clean room" that is temperature controlled down to the thousandth of a degree, and so sanitized even a brain surgeon would find it a bit overkill. Sanitation is taken so seriously that there's an outright "airlock" engineers have to go through to enter the room. All this is to minimize parts expanding or retracting during assembly, and to avoid molecular imperfections. After roughly 20 hours of assembly, including about 2 towards post-assembly inspection and testing, what you get is an engine making 700 HP on the nose. Combined with the electric component's 120 HP, the latest Raijin is good for a formidable 820 HP. What's really impressive is the Raijin's advance computers governing this power, and how it determines how much power should be going to each wheel under hard driving, with millions of subtle alterations being made in a second to provide optimal performance. Very much supercar stuff, but power isn't solely where Yamato's technological might went when making the new Raijin.

The new Raijin's frame is built from nanocomposites on aluminum subframes, with the body also being made entirely from nanocomposites. Nanocomposites aren't new for high-performance vehicles, but its how these composites are constructed that makes the difference. Said nanocomposites consist of carbon and titanium that offer excellent strength and weight advantages. Yamato utilizes a 3D loom to weave these materials together, which helps further increase the strength of the assembled parts while significantly cutting down on the volume of materials needed to make the parts in the first place. 3D looms are also not new tech, but the one Yamato utilizes is working with nanocomposites. Threads of carbon and titanium so thin one can hardly see with the naked eye, yet Yamato's loom is able to weave them with surgical precision to create lightweight high-performance parts. This weight shedding is needed as outside of the hybrid powertrain adding some weight, other components like the suspension system also give the Raijin a bit of heft. Yamato has taken a heavily-modified variant of the "Sleipnir" electromagnetic suspension from the ultra-luxury Millennium sedan and gave it to the Raijin. While in the Millennium this system was meant to make the ride as sublime as possible, in the Raijin it makes real-time split-second adjustments during hard driving to determine the optimal setup. This is helped by the same computers that control where the Raijin's power goes. Each individual shock will never have the exact same stiffness or softness in a turn while the system is set in sport mode or above. Of course since this system first saw use in a luxury cruiser, a highway setting is available to give the Raijin Grand Tourer-levels of road comfort. Another thing that helps with both performance and ride comfort is the wheels. Each rim on a Raijin is forged from a single piece of Magnesium. Yamato chose Magnesium instead of a lighter nanocomposite for a few reasons. Magnesium is simply more affordable by every regard, able to be more easily repaired or refurbished. Magnesium also has better vibration dampening, providing better ride quality and handling. And finally, magnesium is great for heat transfer, able to take heat from the brakes during hard driving and move it to the tires to keep them warm and grippy. Various active aero elements throughout the Raijin also help to direct airflow to precise areas to either give the Raijin optimal performance in either straight-line speed or under more track-focused conditions. The body and aero of the Raijin was primarily designed by Yamato's in-house design A.I in wind tunnel testing to both offer the best aerodynamics while offering a design with the great cabin visibility the Raijin was famous for. Again, this aero is controlled by the Raijin's advanced computers, which speaking of, is a quantum-based CPU developed in-house by Yamato's electronics division. Considering all the ultra-precise tasks it has to manage, Yamato going big on the CPU was outright necessary. Especially to give the driver a proper readout of the Raijin's speed. With how high the rotary engine revs and how quickly it can get to said revs, a regular rev counter wouldn't cut it. And with the electric components to the powertrain giving the Raijin incredible acceleration, a normal speedometer wasn't going to cut it. 0-60 in the latest Raijin is in the lower 2 seconds, and 0-120 in just over 6. Overall it'll hit its electronically-limited top speed of 225 MPH in little over 20 seconds. With numbers like that, its safe to say the latest Raijin more than deserves to share a name with a god of lightning.

When the latest Raijin was released, it was met with mixed reception. Obviously the overall performance was lauded, with many reviewers making note of its unorthodox powertrain, impressive acceleration and refined handling characteristics. Many also appreciated the advanced technology that went into its design and production. Others weren't so receptive to Raijin's reliance on tech, saying that all the driver aids and electrification to the powertrain diluted the driving feel. The Raijin was also scrutinized for its pricetag, which at $350,000 per unit was considerably more than previous generations and even comparable sportscars on the market. Many fans of the Raijin nameplate went as far as to say the new model didn't deserve to carry the name. However, some looked at the price and pointed out that the latest Raijin was offering 7-figure tech at a 6-figure price bracket not unlike the generation it succeeded, which was hard to argue with considering everything it provided. With its hybrid setup and well-designed interior, many also noted how comfortable of a daily driver it was. Again, much like prior generations of the Raijin. Whatever anyone thought of the latest Raijin, it was still a success in Yamato's eyes. It was an exciting demonstration of their technological ability, making it the perfect "halo model", and it sold well enough, too. Yamato would make 500 Raijins annually, with large quantities of them selling quickly.

I had to include this photo for old times sake. I found this Gameboy while I was home over Thanksgiving break. I could not believe how unfortunate the images and graphics were, and for the color? More like nonexistent color! Video games today have become so much more advanced over the last 15 years from when I received this as a Christmas gift.

The Giant's Causeway in Ireland. An interesting natural formation, and a UNESCO World Heritage site. This is a shot taken from the causeway itself, looking inwards. The mountains in the back surround the causeway, while behind me was the tempestuous sea. The weather that day was mercurial, with every 15 minutes bringing rain or shine alternately. After 30 minutes at the causeway (not nearly enough time for my shooting) a downpour started, forcing me and my camera to run for nonexistent cover. Fortunately, I had a spare poncho which my camera bag fit under, so my equipment was spared. Needless to say, I was soaking wet on the bus back.

The idea of developing and running your home business may be interesting; however, there will still be challenges to surmount. If you truly want to run a successful home business, use the following advice to your advantage.

When you launch your home-based business, email your family members, pals and colleagues to let them understand about your new venture. Give them something free of cost or offer a fantastic price cut to get them considering your new business. Encourage them to spread the word about your new business. There is nothing quite as effective as personal referrals.

Before you start selling anything, you should make certain to find out what the price variety for it is in the current market. Consider the prices of comparable products, and purpose to slightly undercut the competition. It is very important to bear in mind that no matter what, you should highlight the good aspects of your business and not the adverse aspects of other businesses.

Find a forum to join that's major topic is home business. You will be able to interact with other company owner. Other people running a home business will understand your situation. They will be the best people to share information with and receive good advice from.

If you aren't sure what you would like to do, look online for home business suggestions. But enjoy out. The Internet is also an area where scams abound. Be careful. Always check to see if the information you want is available somewhere else free of cost. You should also enjoy out for complex scams that offer access to nonexistent work for a fee, or tuition for on the internet courses that are ineffective. If an offer sounds unbelievable, it's probably a scam.

Develop a detailed home business plan. Your business plan isn't repaired; you can change it in response to market realities, or even put it aside. However, your plan will work as a guide map when you're getting started, and will be a convenient tip of what you 'd like to accomplish with your business. Your business plan should be continually progressing.

Keep an accurate accounting of all financial records of your business. If the IRS wants to audit your business, things will be a lot much easier if you have specified records available. These records can also give you a clear peek of how you are doing month to month.

Your family requires to be supportive of your home business. Establishing a home business can be incredibly time consuming, and often comes with a fantastic bargain of stress. If your family members are not ready to help and support you, even just by giving you alone time to work, you will not be able to successfully run a home business.

Promote your home business by utilizing SEO strategies. For people who wish to market online to a large network of individuals, SEO work is essential. Many different tips exist for carrying out SEO on your own, and there are many resources out there that can assist you.

As pointed out, being your own boss and following your dreams is very interesting to many people. Performing the tips shared here will help make a home business prosper in a big way.

It is crucial to bear in mind that no matter what, you should highlight the good aspects of your business and not the adverse aspects of other businesses.

A good protective step you can take when establishing a home business is to rent a PO box and use it as your business address. It can be a good idea to set up your own home business network to conveniently connect with other businesses. Talking improperly about rivals is never good business; simply build up your own business.

To keep track of your business, open a checking account strictly for the business. www.empowernetwork.com/webmillionaire/blog/best-home-base...

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by North American Aviation (NAA) in response to a requirement of the British Purchasing Commission. The Purchasing Commission approached North American Aviation to build Curtiss P-40 fighters under license for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Rather than build an old design from another company, North American Aviation proposed the design and production of a more modern fighter. The prototype NA-73X airframe was rolled out on 9 September 1940, 102 days after the contract was signed, and first flew on 26 October.

However, with the end of hostilities in Europe in May 1945 the P-51E contract was cancelled, as well as the option for more aircraft. Altogether only 363 lightweight P-51Es were completed and reached frontline units, exclusively operating with the 8th and 9th Fighter Command.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 33 ft 3 in (10,15 m)

Wingspan: 37 ft 0 in (11,28 m)

Height: 13 ft 4½ in (4,08 m)

Wing area: 234 sq ft (21,81 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 66(2)-215

Empty weight: 5,792 lb (2.630 kg)

Loaded weight: 7,268 lb (3.300 kg)

Max. take-off weight: 9,559 lb (4.340 kg)

Maximum fuel capacity: 419 US gal (349 imp gal; 1,590 l)

Powerplant:

1× Packard V-1650-9 liquid-cooled V-12 with 2-stage intercooled supercharger,

delivering 1,380 hp (1,030 kW), 2,218 hp (1,655 kW) WEP with Water methanol injection,

driving a Hamilton Standard constant-speed, variable-pitch three blade propeller with

a 11 ft 2 in (3.40 m) diameter

Performance:

Maximum speed: 472 mph (760 km/h; 410 kn) at 21,200 ft (6,500 m)

Cruise speed: 362 mph (315 kn, 580 km/h)

Stall speed: 100 mph (87 kn, 160 km/h)

Range: 1,650 mi (1,434 nmi, 2,755 km) with external tanks

Service ceiling: 41,900 ft (12,800 m)

Rate of climb: 3,200 ft/min (16.3 m/s)

Wing loading: 39 lb/sqft (192 kg/m²)

Power/mass: 0.18 hp/lb (300 W/kg)

Lift-to-drag ratio: 14.6

Recommended Mach limit 0.8

Armament:

4× 0.50 caliber (12.7mm) AN/M2 Browning machine guns with 400 RPG

A pair of underwing hardpoints for a pair of drop tanks

or bombs of 100 lb (45 kg), 250 lb (113 kg) or 500 lb (226 kg) caliber

The kit and its assembly:

A project that was more complex than obvious at first glance. The plan was to create a “missing link” between the WWII P-51D and its lightweight sibling P-51H, which came too late in WWII to take seriously part in any combat. There actually were some “interim” designs, which paved the way (the F, G and J models), with lightweight hulls or different engines. My plan was to adopt some details of these aircraft to create the fictional P-51E.

For a look that subtly differs from the well-known P-51D I decided light-headedly to bash two Academy models together: a P-51D hull, mixed with the wings and tail from a P-51B/C kit, plus some inter-kit and external donors. What sounds simple turned out to be a major surgery task, though, because both kits are totally different, produced with individual moulds and few interchangeable parts! Even details which you’d expect to me identical (e. g. wing tip and tail shape) differ markedly.

For the P-51E kitbash the fuselage with cockpit, engine and radiator bath was taken from the P-51D, while the tail and the wings were taken from the P-51B/C, because they were slightly bigger, “edgier”, lacked the fin fillet and featured only four machine guns in the wings. Mating these parts called for many adaptations and massive PSR, though. To change the look further I removed the small wing leading edge extensions, for a completely straight edge, and the cowling was changed to look like a mix of the P-51F and J prototypes. The carburetor intake disappeared and a part of the P-51D spinner was used to extend the fuselage a little. A completely new three-blade propeller was scratched, using a Yokosuka D4Y spinner, a piece from an ESCI Ka-34 Hokum main rotor, and clipped blades from a Hasegawa F5U. A styrene tube was added to hold the propeller’s new metal axis. To compensate for the longer nose the rear fuselage a 2mm section of the P-51D hull was retained in front of the transplanted P-51B/C tail (which is a separate hull section, the -D has an integral tail).

The original exhausts were replaced with resin aftermarket pieces for P-400 Airacobra from Quickboost - for which the nose extension paid out, because the V-1710 exhaust arrangement is longer than the Merlin's.

Painting and markings:

I wanted a typical, potentially colorful USAAF livery from early 1945 for this what-if aircraft model. This meant that the aircraft would have a NMF livery, and Invasion Stripes or other ID markings were already removed or not applied to new aircraft anymore. Camouflage had been omitted from 1945, too. As squadron markings I went for the 357th FG red-and-yellow nose markings; these came with Academy’s P-51B/C kit, but I replaced them with decals from a Mistercraft/Intech kit from The Stash™ because their shape was simpler and would (probably) better match the modified lower nose. Searching for later P-51Ds of this group revealed that the aircraft hardly carried any other colorful marking, though – just the tactical code, and maybe some personal markings.

To keep in style I adapted this basis, using a tone called “White Aluminum (RAL 9006)” from a Duplicolor rattle can as an overall basis, but added a thin red edge to the olive drab (Revell 46) anti-glare panel, created with generic decal stripes. The rudder as well as the wing tips were painted in red, an official 363rd FS ID marking, as a counterbalance to the prominent nose, too.

The propeller spinner was painted free-handedly, in an attempt to match the checker decal's colors. Some hull panels were painted in a darker shade of aluminum to make the model look mo0re lively, and some post-shading with Humbrol Matt Aluminum Metallizer was done to improve that effect, too. Cockpit and landing gear wells were painted in a bright green zinc chromate primer tone.

Decals and markings were puzzled together from various sources. Finding a suitable 'B6' code fpr the 363rd FS was tough, but I was eventually able to scratch it from 'P9' codes from two Academy P-47D kits/sheets! BTW, the horizontal bar above the aircraft's individual letter was a real world marking for a second aircraft that bore this tactical code within the unit. The nose art/tag was also donated from an Academy P-47, the yellow font matches the rest of the unit colors well.

The anti glare panel and the propeller blades received a matt varnish coat, while the rest of the hull was covered with a mix of matt and a little semi-gloss varnish - contemporary Mustang photos from 1945 suggest that, despite being bare metal, the aircraft were not polished or shiny at all, yet the aluminum would have some reflections. I think that the final overall finish looks quite good. As a final step I added some light soot stains behind the exhausts and the machine gun orifices, and dry-brushed some silver on edges/areas where paint could have flaked in real life. Not much, but it adds to the overall impression of a used aircraft.

A more demanding project than meets the eye. Bashing the two Mustang kits for a fictional new one might have been a smart idea, but it turned out to be a nightmare because the two 1:72 Mustand Academy kits are totally incompatible. Additionally, the mods I made are VERY subtle, it takes a keen eye to recognize the lengthened hull, the modfied cowling and the cleaner tail. The three-blade prop is the most obvious thing, and with it, from certain angles, the P-51E reminds somewhat of a Yak-9? Probably due to the intake-less cowling and the (for a Mustang) unusual prop? The livery looks plausible and colorful, though. :D

HELP!! The label says this is from Tsumeb, where pyromorphite has been noted once or twice, but is thought to be almost nonexistent. Does anyone have any thoughts on what those brown transparent crystals might be?

Jos is wading through the swamp of Pick Naming Conventions and nonexistent standards.

“The problem isn’t dying; the problem is figuring out how to live.” – Glenn Villeneuve ~ Alaskan survivalist living a subsistence lifestyle sixty-five miles above the Arctic Circle

It is understandable that we are afraid of death, it is one of the most humanistic emotions that we have. It is this fear that allows us to survive. But if all we are doing is just surviving, we are missing out on really living. The worst thing is not dying, it’s never really living at all.

Time will come and go without ever waiting for us to figure out what we are supposed to do with this life that we are given. It needs to be our goal to fathom our purpose as soon as possible in life so that we can take full advantage of as many days as possible.

There are many people all over the world who do not have the luxury to do anything else but survive. They struggle every day to stay afloat; they live life one breath at a time. It is our responsibility to those people to not waste a single second of our lives, to stop focusing on the bad and realize how much good we have around us. But no one can do that for us, no one can wake us up out of the dreary daze that has overtaken us. When need to wake up tomorrow, splash cold water on our face, and exclaim that this is my day, this is the day when I will truly live.

There are a lot of things to be afraid of, but what should top that list is wasting even one second worrying about the rest, instead of living for the best. The one thing that we have complete control over is how we deal with what life throws at us. We can curl up in a ball, we can put our heads in the sand, or we can embrace each moment like it may be our last. We owe it to those who do not have fresh food and water to drink, who do not have a roof over the heads and a bed to sleep in at night, to love each day, and to love each person we come across, because we have so much to be thankful for.

How do you live each day? Are you worried about dying, or are you worried about never truly living? People may remember how we died but they will never forget how we lived. The greatest joy in life comes from helping others realize how amazing their life can be, and we do this by being a living example of how great life really is.

If you’re not sure yet whether you’re living, or just surviving, concentrate on one thing: the person standing next to you. The best way to take full advantage of the moments you are given is to embrace your neighbor like you want to be embraced. When we focus on love, we do not waste a single day. It is your time to shine, your time to finally start living.

When we do it together nothing can stop us from figuring out how to live. Failure is nonexistent when we put our efforts into those around us. Love never fails, and neither do you. Live a life unshackled by the chains of unrelenting time, because now you have broken free.

(The Kenai River called Kahtnu in the Dena’ina language, is the longest river in the Kenai Peninsula of south central Alaska.)

#GlennVilleneuve

#QuoteOfTheDay

#LifeBelowZero

#StartLiving

#LoveOneAnother

@LifeBelowZeroPT

Not very good but they are my new favorite nonexistent couple :] comment if you take/use it please :)

for Pavla

www.behance.net/gallery/21033047/Nonexistent-Vodka

The C-208 is loaded with double 8" LF/MF and a single high energy 2" HF driver. Each enclosure is constructed of high grade birch ply-wood and is custom fitted with steel fly hardware that has been test rated for a 7:1 static load, hanging up to 16 enclosures in a single array. Our user friendly hardware allows for hanging and ground stacking applications, permitting the user to stack up to six enclosures.

All C-208 enclosures are hand wired using premium 14 gauge wire and Neutrik brand NL8 connectors. All drivers are built with cast fame baskets for strength and longevity. Our compression drivers have replaceable titanium diaphragms for superb sound quality, performance and durability. We use a standard phase plug design to control the isophasic wave form as well as a wave guide system for smooth coverage and coupling. Our components are designed and built to a commercial standard and have a proven track record on tours ranging from stadiums to festivals of up to 30 shows per month with practically a nonexistent failure rate.

All C-208 enclosures are equipped with a removable back panel that can be disconnected and replaced by an internal TVi multi channel "Class D" power amplifier module. Each power amplifier has a built in multi-channel processor that has been chamber tuned for the C-208 to achieve a flat response curve with pre set limiters, DSP and crossover points. One amplified C-208 enclosure will also power one additional non-powered C-208 enclosure in tri amp mode by daisy chaining an NL8 cable.

Stopped by the "Store Closing" sale last weekend. This store was depressing even before Sears announced it was closing. It's only worse now.

The sale just began, so the discounts were still pretty weak on most everything, and almost nonexistent (10%) on things like appliances and tools. Don't bother....

I've wanted to see this rock art panel for some time. It's not a terrible long hike, but the path up is pretty much nonexistent, steep, and rocky.

I'm completely disappointed in my photos. Compositions are bad and the colors are horrible. Might have been a combination of the color of the rock, the shadows, and time of day. They all turned out with some strange purple tint, as if the color balance is way off. Thank goodness I shot in RAW and was able to correct it somewhat.

First shots with Sony DSC-HX200V using panorama setting. Camera auto stitches five frames.

Mendon Ponds Park is owned and very poorly maintained by the County of Monroe, NY.

Unfortunately, this extraordinary property is rapidly deteriorating due to an egregious lack of care. Trails are not cleared of debris... signs are useless. Park maintenance is essentially nonexistent. They do have a marketing department. Seriously, the taxpayers are paying the salaries of a county parks marketing department.

Email Mendon Ponds Park complaints to: countyexecutive@monroecounty.gov

Gothic Armor

Date:

late 15th century; extensively restored and completed ca. 1926

Culture:

German and Italian

From the early nineteenth century through about the mid-twentieth century, it was not unusual to restore incomplete armor by combining elements from different armors, making missing pieces out of modern or reused old metal and decorating or redecorating pieces to match as needed. With objects in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, founding curator of the Arms and Armor Department Bashford Dean took a conservative approach for his day, having his armorers make, add to, or alter only those pieces he considered absolutely necessary to create an exhibitable display. In addition, the work done on the Museum’s pieces was usually signed and dated. For his private collection, however, Dean sometimes took a more liberal approach, delighting in composing armors out of disparate parts, augmented by whatever newly made or repurposed pieces were required to complete the ensemble he had in mind.

In this instance, Dean’s goal was to create a late German Gothic armor, a type often considered the pinnacle of armor-making. Complete and homogeneous examples were nonexistent on the art market by Dean’s time. Taking a superb late fifteenth-century helmet by the Landshut armorer Matthes Deutsch, and a nucleus of genuine torso, arm, and leg pieces, Dean’s craftsmen made this truly impressive and historically accurate representation of a German Gothic armor. As a result, about fifty percent of it is restoration. The plates are not signed, but we know from letters written at the time that some of the work was done by Leonard Hugel (1877–about 1935) and Harvey Murton (1907–2004) in about 1926. However, because of the extent of the restorations, only the helmet is regularly on permanent display today.

I'm gobsmacked by several things here. First, the light was nonexistent. Yet the Sony A7RII performed extremely well at incredibly high ISO. Second, using knowledge developed around a digital Zone System, I knew precisely where I wanted the tonal values and was able to place them accordingly. Third, I am happy to confirm the dynamic range of the sensor extends usefully to below Zone 0 (Zone -2!), even at such high ISO settings. Fourth, 1950s German optics can do the trick. These images were made using a triplet wide angle. Who would design such a thing and make it work? Micro-contrast is something to be seen, otherwise you wouldn't believe it.

The acrocanthosaurus was a T-Rex-like dinosaur that lived during the Mesozoic era, before T-Rex did. Like T-Rex, it had big teeth, a long tail, powerful hind legs, and almost nonexistent forelegs. Given that general configuration, it probably acted a lot like a flightless bird. A very large, carnivorous flightless bird.

Photographs by Paul Russell

Learn more about Steve's work: visitsteve.com/

ABOUT THE PROJECT

(from the SPACES catalog)

Starting a conversation about Capitalism is like walking up to a stranger and asking, “Can I talk to you about Jesus?”

The word “capitalism” is a red flag. And for good reason—pretty soon either some dude is talking your ear off about “The System” or aggressively confronting you about taxes. Ugh.

At the same time, capitalism is discussed every day using euphemisms like “jobs,” “job creation,” “the business climate,” and discussing whatever “crisis” is deemed relevant; a housing crisis, financial crisis, social security crisis, tax crisis, or fill- in-the blank crisis. But the whole is rarely a topic of frank discussion—much less alternatives or meaningful reform.

As a culture, we need the vision and boldness it takes to discuss the problem itself. The idea that “there is no alternative” to the way our world works takes away our ability to dream. As citizens we need the courage to begin these discussions on order to move on to new and better visions for the future.

But what to do? Start a conversation about capitalism and friends edge away slowly, and strangers even faster.

This is what art is for. This is what art does well. It creates a space where new ideas and perspectives can be explored. A space unlike any other.

Throughout my artistic career I’ve challenged myself to take on difficult subject matter in ways that are engaging and fun. I’ve found humor and popular culture can open doors to difficult but worthwhile subjects and enable us to envision and move toward new, utopian futures.

The sign starts here in Cleveland and will tour the US leading up to and beyond the 2012 presidential election. People who vote will be given the opportunity to have their portrait taken and give a short statement about why they voted the way they did. There will be a book, website, and videos that document people’s interactions and thoughts.

I’m excited that this piece takes on what for most Americans is a taboo, or even nonexistent subject: whether global, hegemonic capitalism actually works for most people. But whew, talking about that is boring! And telling people what to think is worse! This sign gets passers by to participate in deceptively simple vote (True/ False) which only pretends to offer resolution. Every aspect of the interaction draws them in to more complex questions and conversations, leading to new thoughts and ideas about a better world!

For 50 years it has been unacceptable, politically, in the United States to ask what is basically a straightforward question. We have a particular economic system, it’s called capitalism. We have every right as a society to ask of that system, is it working? Is it working for us? Do the benefits and the costs balance themselves out in a way that says, do we want to keep this system? Or that says, we want to change this system? Or that says, we ought to look at an alternative system. We’ve been afraid to ask that question. We’ve been afraid to have public debates—that’s the legacy of the cold war. We can’t afford anymore to not do that. We have to raise the question.

The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic conditions. Black Swans are large birds with mostly black plumage and red bills. They are monogamous breeders that share incubation duties and cygnet rearing between the sexes.

The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that is a surprise (to the observer), has a major effect, and after the fact is often inappropriately rationalized with the benefit of hindsight. The expression derives from the Old World presumption that all swans must be white because all historical records of swans reported that they had white feathers. In that context, a black swan was impossible or at least nonexistent.

On the road to Cut Spring, after the Dome Fire. View is looking southeast toward Kessler Peak and the Ivanpah Mountains. In the foreground is a mostly incinerated landscape of Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia jaegeriana), Mojave Yucca (Yucca schidigera), Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa), and Banana Yucca (Yucca baccata) with poor to nonexistent chances of ever returning to its former state. Time will tell.

Day 16: After falling into a pattern of taking photos of things in and around the house, I was determined to make today's shot something outdoors. Since Sunday is the day my coed recreational softball team plays, I took my camera to the field looking for something to capture. After the softball game, we stayed at the park to test out a friend's new portable commercial grill. We had tacos with three types of meat (carne asada, al pastor, and chicken) and several varieties of salsa. Luckily for me, as we were enjoying our tacos just before sunset, the skies over our field turned a pretty reddish-orange shade. Unfortunately, I took dozens of shots but was not quite able to capture the real-life beauty of the sky. After initially failing to get the shot right in post-processing, I uploaded an SOOC shot. After doing so, I couldn't shake my unsatisfied feeling, so I spent a couple of hours with Lightroom 3 tutorials and getting to know the software better. This updated photo represents my best attempt to salvage my shot.

P.S. I've only been using Lightroom 3 for a month. I'm a total newbie to serious photo-editing software. In that sense, this project is allowing me the opportunity to develop my almost nonexistent post-processing and photo-editing skills.

For FGR: Ads For Nonexistent Products

Have you ever had difficulty determining the difference between shit and shinola?

Well, I have, and I’ve found a solution, thanks to a collaboration between Ronco and Apple. Together, they've developed an app for your iPhone that solves the puzzle once and for all.

Simply take an iPhoto of the suspect items and load them into the Ronco “Sniffer” application on your iPhone. Thanks to decades of military research, the Sniffer converts the iPhotos to digital representations of iShit and iShinola, then almost immediately displays the results on your iPhone in an easy to understand format with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one.

All I can say is thank you, Ronco and Apple, for making my life so much easier!

Yeah, there's an app for that!

This is an actual customer's testimonial. No actors were paid for this advertisement.

Carpenter bees (the genus Xylocopa in the subfamily Xylocopinae) are large, hairy bees distributed worldwide. There are some 500 species of carpenter bee in 31 subgenera.[1] Their name comes from the fact that nearly all species build their nests in burrows in dead wood, bamboo, or structural timbers (except those in the subgenus Proxylocopa, which nest in the ground). Members of the related tribe Ceratinini are sometimes referred to as "small carpenter bees".

In several species, the females live alongside their own daughters or sisters, creating a sort of social group. They use wood bits to form partitions between the cells in the nest. A few species bore holes in wood dwellings. Since the tunnels are near the surface, structural damage is generally minor or nonexistent.

Carpenter bees can be important pollinators on open-faced flowers, even obligate pollinators on some, such as the Maypop (Passiflora incarnata), though many species are also known to "rob" nectar by slitting the sides of flowers with deep corollas.

L to R, per Anna: Erik, Anna's friend, Anna (with butterfly dress), Anna's brother, Toby the dog (on the pink leash), Anna's sister

change.org/lgbthatecrime

I'm gobsmacked by several things here. First, the light was nonexistent. Yet the Sony A7RII performed extremely well at incredibly high ISO. Second, using knowledge developed around a digital Zone System, I knew precisely where I wanted the tonal values and was able to place them accordingly. Third, I am happy to confirm the dynamic range of the sensor extends usefully to below Zone 0 (Zone -2!), even at such high ISO settings. Fourth, 1950s German optics can do the trick. These images were made using a triplet wide angle. Who would design such a thing and make it work? Micro-contrast is something to be seen, otherwise you wouldn't believe it.

Somewhere on the train ride from Kandy to Haputale. Communication was almost nonexistent and only nonverbal, but I really think they wanted to have a photo taken. Bit shaky because there wasn't much light :-/ (I added some brightness with gimp...)

And unfortunately we didn't manage to get a written address where to send it to....

This station in Norton was once a stop on the Taunton Branch Railroad. It's a pretty early station, built in 1853. This station is only 4 miles from where I live if you were to travel along the nonexistent rail line (half that distance is now a bike path) -- it would have been a quick ride even on a slow old steam train. (It's only slightly farther traveling along the roads, but less fun.)

This station has been recently been restored and is now for sale as a private home, asking price $409,000. It has previously held a post office, a glue factory, a bakery, and a bistro (not at the same time...) Its role as a passenger station ended in 1938, although the railroad line continued to exist until 1965.

The real estate ads that I found for this building online do mention that it used to be a train station. I'm not sure why the for sale sign has been pulled out -- according to all the websites, it's currently for sale. Next, I might have to pretend to be a potential buyer so I can get a real estate agent to show me the interior :)

This fighter doesn't exist. It has an ejectable seat, flick fire missiles and other missiles. I know, lots of missiles, here's a video of it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd5H6bZNybU

This Mustang convertible will be a major undertaking to restore. The floor pans were mostly nonexistent. There was no instrument cluster or dash in the car. Amazingly, at the end of the show, it was started and driven, hopefully to a trailer, leaving the aroma of stale gas being burned.

Naysayers claim that public transportation in Florida is almost nonexistent, but the PSTA begs to differ.

US 19 at 118th/Bryan Dairy, Pinellas Park.

Tortola, British Virgin Islands. 110v. 60hz current used despite the English made transformers & insulators.Taken 1971. This voltage, nonexistent in America, is common in UK.

Boone, NC gets it. They are getting less and less snowfall, making the outdoor winter sports season nearly nonexistent. With one ski resort recently closed, they are gathering in solidarity with skis on grass.

Photo credit: Crystal Simmons

UPDATE: The store that housed this exhibt was burned down. Google The Wilde Collection, Houston TX to read the story. The child mortality rate in Victorian England was high; with a quarter of babies dying before their first birthday. For a select few, the ritual of séance became the only method of extending their cruelly short parenthood. Out of all spirit contact, child spirits were the most difficult to engage. With a limited or nonexistent vocabulary, conventional methods such as talking boards were not feasible. The child spirit was no different than a living child; shy and scared of initial interaction with unknown adults. New methods had to be devised to lure child spirits into the circle so that they could, once again, be reunited with their bereaved parents. Due to this problem, Hungarian spiritualist, Ciprian Zaharie, felt compelled to create an unusual and never before devised method for child spirit communication: the Christening Doll.

Many in contemporary society would see this as morbid, during Victorian times, Zaharie’s Christening Doll was one of the most sought after gift for the new mother. The doll would be given to the mother bald, with no eyes or teeth. Once the baby arrived and the new mother saw their eye color, she would take it to the doll maker where they will install the eye color to match her child’s. Once the child got their first haircut, the mother would again take it back to the doll maker for them to root the baby’s hair into the dolls head. The same was repeated when the baby lost their baby teeth. Inside the doll, was a tin compartment where the mother would place the physical nine month mother child attachment: the umbilical cord. This process was to give the Christening Doll, as much likeness and energy of the child, much like voodoo dolls.

Every day, the new mother would set aside a special time of the day for the baby to play with the doll and no other toy. As a child becomes attached to a toy in life, it can equally become as attached in death. Scheduling playtime with the doll would ensure that it would become the child’s favorite toy and they would, more easily be attracted to play with it even after their untimely death.

Naturalised parrots Psittacula krameri bird (Ring-necked parakeet) frequent an apartment neighbourhood in the Hague, the Netherlands.

The feeder is hanging on a tree in front of balcony, due to nonexistent yard. The wire ball (actually a lampshade frame) successfully keeps crows off the feeder...but larger birds regularly clean up the waste falling to the ground.

Individual seeds or nuts are much better than mixed bird foods or ready made suet cakes. Keep in mind that food for human consumption of far better quality, cheaper and not moldy. It is not healthy for birds to eat moldy food.

Vacumed shelled unsalted peanuts is a good choice, however it is advisable to

roast raw peanuts (see: www.avianweb.com/feedingwildbirds.html).

Yorgui Teyrouz is a pharmacy student at the Lebanese American

University. He’s been a scout for 15 years. He also served in the Red

Cross in 2003 for a year.

Yorgui is the founder of Donner Sang Compter (DSC), and he has

been working to better the blood donation cause in Lebanon for the

past 5 years. Lebanon lacks a national blood bank, or any public

blood donation service and awareness about the importance of

voluntary blood donation is often nonexistent. DSC is composed of

young volunteers from various social and professional backgrounds.

Their job is to raise awareness about voluntary blood donation

across the Lebanese territory: from schools and universities, to

churches and mosques, to movie theatres and even nightclubs.

Along with awakening young people to the vital importance of the

selfless act itself, DSC is encouraging them to become voluntary

blood donors. The service is completely free of charge and relies

solely on the registered donors’ selfless efforts to help save a life.

When he’s not donating blood, running his NGO or studying, Yorgui

goes camping and loves to discover new places in Lebanon. His

activities are all about friends and team sports. Reggae music keeps

him smiling and is a part of his daily life.

Suspended Animation Classic #350

Originally published September 3, 1995 (#35)

(Dates are approximate)

The X Files; Los Omnipotents

By Michael Vance

The silliness called Psychobabble is psychology based on faulty or nonexistent science. Now, there’s a new babble in town.

A confusion of myths from Atlantis to Zulus with wings – our metaphysical beliefs from all times and nations – that I now label metababble is hot.

And metababble is kept in “The X Files”.

Government agents Mulder and Scully investigate metababble on television and in a new comic book. In current issues, they travel to St. Elias, Alaska. Atlantic is buried under the ice there.

In Atlantis, someone has rediscovered that eating a person gives the eater the eaten’s knowledge. This ancient myth of cannibalism is given veracity by the new discovery that all knowledge is stored in human DNA. Adding to the silliness, Aztecs and Toltecs have also become the Lost Tribe of Israel.

This is metababble, fun unless taken seriously.

Taken with a grain of salt is the art of this series. It’s clean, interesting storytelling with one major fault. Neither Scully nor Mulder look like Scully or Mulder.

Also salty is the written word. Stefan Petrucha has done his homework according to a long list of reference materials. He understands that adding layers of myth makes metaphysical confusion almost believable and a fun read.

In addition, unfolding plot, and characterization are intriguing. Much is promised in this half of the two-part “shocker”, “Silent Cities of the Mind”.

But you won’t be shocked. You won’t throw this in the “round” file, either.

Taken with a large grain of salt is the price of “The X Files”, which follows the standard rules of packaging like page count and paper quality. Why is it so high?

#8/22 pages, $2.95 from Topps Comics/writer: Stephan Petrucha; artist: Charles Adlard/available in comics shops, on newsstands, and by mail.

MINIVIEW: “Los Omnipotents” [El Wendigo]. Comics articles and a long, well drawn, futuristic comics drama filled with ugliness and violence. For mature, Spanish reading comics fans.

Though personalized art appeared during World War I, and occasionally grew to incorporate the entire aircraft, most pilots carried a saying or a slogan, or a family crest, or squadron symbol. Some were named, but nose art was not common. During World War II, nose art not only saw its true beginnings, but its heyday.

No one knows exactly who started nose art first--it appeared with both the British and the Germans around the first time, with RAF pilots painting Hitler being kicked or skulls and crossbones on their aircraft, while German nose art was usually a personal symbol, named for a girlfriend or adopting a mascot (such as Adolf Galland using Mickey Mouse, something Walt Disney likely didn't approve of). It would be with the Americans, and a lesser extent the Canadians, that nose art truly became common--and started including its most famous forms, which was usually half-naked or completely naked women. This was not always true, but it often was.

The quality of nose art depended on the squadron or wing artist. Some of it was rather crude, while others were equal to the finest pinup artists in the United States, such as Alberto Vargas. For men thousands of miles away from home and lonely, a curvaceous blonde on a B-17 or a P-51 made that loneliness a bit easier. Others thought naked women were a little crude, and just limited themselves to names, or depicted animals, cartoon characters, or patriotic emblems, or caricatures of the Axis dictators they were fighting.

Generally speaking, there was little censorship, with squadron and group commanders rarely intervening on names or pictures; the pilots themselves practiced self-censorship, with profanity almost unknown, and full-frontal nudity nearly nonexistent. After the loss of a B-17 named "Murder Inc.," which the Germans captured and used to make propaganda, the 8th Air Force, at least, set up a nose art committee that reviewed the nose art of aircraft--but even it rarely wielded its veto. For the most part, nose art was limited only by the crew's imagination and the artist's ability. The British tended to stay away from the lurid nudes of the Americans, though the Canadians adopted them as well. (The Axis also did not use nose art in this fashion, and neither did the Soviets, who usually confined themselves to patriotic slogans on their aircraft, such as "For Stalin!" or "In the Spirit of the Motherland!")

When World War II ended, so did nose art, for the most part. In the peacetime, postwar armed forces, the idea of having naked women were wives and children could see it was not something the postwar USAF or Navy wanted, and when it wasn't scrapped, it was painted over. A few units (especially those away from home and family) still allowed it, but it would take Korea to begin a renaissance of nose art.

Built as a B-29A bomber, 44-84076 joined the USAAF two days before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. As a result, it missed World War II, and ended up back in storage. In 1947, it was returned to service with the new USAF, joining the 28th Bomb Group at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. As the B-29 force was replaced by the B-50, 44-84076 was converted to a TB-29B radar calibration aircraft in 1951, and was assigned to various squadrons and flights at Hamilton AFB, California. It was among the last USAF B-29s retired, leaving the service in 1959, and became the first aircraft donated to the Strategic Air Command Museum at Offutt AFB, Nebraska.

For many years at Offutt, it was painted as a Korean War-era B-29 with the name "Man O'War," but after the SAC Museum moved to Ashland, it was completely restored as a World War II-era B-29, "Lucky Lady," assigned to the 313th BG at Tinian. The nose art shows a Varga Girl style pinup wearing a tied-off shirt and cutoff shorts; this would be considered very modest for B-29s over Korea!

I had forgotten I had this nose art picture, but the other day I was cataloguing my photos, and ran across it. This actually turned out better than my full picture of "Lucky Lady," when I got it in 2020.

1993 Suède Sweden Svezia

Tiens qui est-ce donc ?

Who's that ?

Ma dai, lei è anche lì !!!!!

Escapade en train à Blåhammaren, dans le nord de la Suède, près de la frontier norvégienne.

Il est conseillé de savoir lire une carte et utiliser la boussole, car les sentiers ne sont pas bien marqués et on ne rencontre quasi personne ... le temps peut aussi changer brusquement : en qq minutes on passé de l'été à l'hiver avec de la neige (meme en plein mois de juillet).

Week-end close to the Norwegian border, in the north of Sweden, at Blåhammaren.

It is recommended to be able to read a map and use a compass because the paths are almost nonexistent ... the weather can also change within minutes going from Summer into Winter (with snow mid of July).

Camminata vicina al confine con la Norvegia, a Blåhammaren (2 giorni).

Saper leggere una mappa e utilizzare una bussola è d'obbligo perché i sentieri non si vedono bene. E non c'è molta gente da incontrare ! Subito il meteo può anche cambiare da estate a inverno con neve a metà luglio !

Ed Coates writes:

The crew of this ancient 'boat appear not to be too troubled by the almost nonexistent slipstream acquired at a stately ninety knots. Although originally built (in 1925) with wooden hulls, the 11 Southampton Is were rebuilt as Mk IIs with metal hulls early in the 1930s. Some 60 were used by the RAF in the 1925-1936 era. Many were based at RAF Seletar, Singapore. In addition to the RAF squadrons, some 20 or so Southamptons were sold abroad, including a civil passenger model for Japan.

See also: www.aviastar.org/air/england/supermarine_southampton.php

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